Breaking into the Illinois medical marijuana business is a massive undertaking for Alex Thiersch and John Dohm, but they want to do it in Rockford.

Thiersch, a Chicago attorney, started following the efforts to legalize medical marijuana a few years ago and contacted Dohm, his college roommate, to join him on the business journey. Dohm grew up in Rockford, graduating from Auburn High School in 1992.

He and Thiersch are among many teams working behind the scenes, creating a framework to grow and sell medical marijuana — which became legal in January in Illinois — so they’re ready once state officials give the go-ahead to start applying for licenses.

Investing in the business will be a highly competitive, multimillion-dollar process, but experts say the teams of people who are the most prepared — meaning they’ve started the application process, even though the applications aren’t available yet — will have the greatest shot at success.

“We’ve only got one shot at this, and we can’t mess it up,” Thiersch said. “We have to do it right, and do it right the first time. ... I’ve never done anything harder in my life.”

Devil in the details

Thiersch and Dohm enlisted the help of The MedMen, a California-based medical marijuana consulting group, to help with their applications.

MedMen is busy helping people apply for medical marijuana licenses in Nevada, which is about six months ahead of Illinois in implementing its program. Illinois is still finalizing its rules and regulations.

MedMen hosted a seminar this month in Chicago for people interested in the Illinois medical marijuana business. President Adam Bierman said the group will ramp up outreach in the coming months, but he didn’t sugarcoat the time, money and resources needed to enter the industry.

Bierman hoisted a binder containing a thousand-page application for a Nevada license to illustrate his point.

“It’s important that people get into their heads that without this, there is no next step,” Bierman said, referring to the application. “The focus needs to be, ‘How am I putting together the strongest one of these as possible?’ Because at the end of the day, if this is as strong as possible, the state will hopefully give you a license, and then you can figure the rest out. Far too often we see people so concerned about ‘how much money is it going to cost, am I going to use hydroponics or soil?’ None of it matters now. This is what matters.”

Bierman said about 200 applications had been submitted for dispensaries, production facilities and labs, and cultivation centers in Clark County, home to Las Vegas. And that was for 40 business licenses available just in that county.

Steven Cooksey, a licensing consultant with MedMen, said applicants need to prove they have a core team of people involved in their business. That means bringing on board an expert in large-scale horticulture for a cultivation center, entrepreneurs with proven success in business, a security expert, and a physician who specializes in pain or who is familiar with medical marijuana to help educate employees, patients and the public.

Applicants should already be researching potential locations for dispensaries and growth centers and meeting with city and county officials to talk zoning and plans for bringing medical marijuana to their communities.

Business owners should also be prepared to lose money, at least initially, on their investments, said Dan Linn, a lobbyist, consultant and executive director of Illinois NORML, a group that pushes to reform marijuana laws.

Illinois’ medical cannabis law is much more restrictive than similar laws in other states. Patients must have one of about 40 qualifying medical conditions, and that list doesn’t include the broad category of chronic pain.

Linn and others have heard that as few as 10,000 patients might use medical marijuana initially, though other estimates suggest as many as 30,000 to 50,000 patients will use it.

Applying for a dispensary license requires about $500,000 in liquid assets, fees and surety bonds. For cultivation centers, that investment skyrockets to about $2.5 million.

And Illinois’ program is a four-year pilot program, the first year of which will only include setting the rules and approving licenses. Linn said patients likely won’t be able to access the drug until early 2015.

Why it’s important

Amid discussion about finances and real estate, Linn, with Illinois NORML, reminded people interested in the industry why the preparation and the success of the businesses are necessary.

“The most important aspect of this program is helping sick people,” Linn said. “That’s why we were able to pass this law. That’s why this program is so restrictive, because there was so much concern from the lawmakers about passing a medical cannabis program because they were looking at how other states passed these laws, how they implemented them and who was really getting access to this product.

“When you’re moving forward with this business or with this industry or these issues, always keep in mind that this is supposed to be helping sick people, and that this isn’t just a way to get rich quick. Because, one, you’re probably not going to get rich quick. And, two, you are supposed to be providing medicine to very sick people.”

Jayda Jenniges, 11, is one of those potential patients. The Byron resident started having seizures as a toddler after contracting a viral brain infection, and she was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy.

Page 3 of 5 - Illinois’ law doesn’t allow for minors to use medical cannabis or for epilepsy to be one of the qualifying patient conditions. But a bill to change that has passed the Senate and the House, and is waiting for the governor’s signature.

Luke Jenniges, Jayda’s father, is closely following that legislation. He constantly reads about medical marijuana for children and belongs to several medical cannabis social media groups through Facebook.

Luke spent about a month in Colorado to further research the industry and to see if moving his family there was a viable plan. It’s not financially feasible as of now, but he’ll do just about anything possible to help his daughter.

Jayda has about 50 to 100 seizures a day, including about five to 10 “hard, bad seizures,” Luke said. She has lost verbal skills but can still walk, though she uses a wheelchair to travel longer distances.

She takes four strong anti-seizure medications daily, and can suffer more seizures if the drugs or doses are changed. Many families with epileptic children have relocated to Colorado to access medical cannabis, which has been shown to reduce the number of seizures for many of the children.

“If Illinois can have it available within a reasonable amount of time, we won’t move,” Luke said. “A year (to wait) is too much, too many seizures. But we at least need to try it. It’s not a cure, and it doesn’t work for every kid, we understand that. But it’s the most hope we’ve seen in almost nine years.

“We sit here in a different state, but we’re all in the same country, and we get to see other kids’ families have success with it and get their children back, and we can’t do anything about it. That’s hard to swallow for me.”

‘We seized on Rockford’

The Jenniges family could benefit from having a growth center and dispensary as close at Winnebago County.

Thiersch founded a company called Salveo Health & Wellness to develop medical marijuana businesses. He’s interested in opening multiple dispensaries and cultivation centers, and has approached officials near Roseville, west of Peoria, about opening a growth operation there.

He and Dohm also have talked to Rockford officials about opening a dispensary in the city, and they’re looking in Winnebago County for a growth center site for this region. Thiersch said the team has identified real estate in Rockford, but he declined to identify the location.

The team sees Rockford as ripe for medical marijuana because of the high concentration of health care centers and hospitals, and because the region needs jobs and revenue to stimulate the economy.

Page 4 of 5 - “We seized on Rockford almost immediately,” Thiersch said. “We were looking to find a place that really needed some assistance and that could benefit both on the health care side of things, and jobs and industry.”

Thiersch said he and Dohm are committed to doing business “absolutely the right way.” That means keeping their products away from kids and off the streets, and educating the community and physicians about the process of growing and selling medical cannabis.

“We’re focused on clean facilities with professional staff who are there for the right reasons and are educated on the products to make sure customers get what they need. Above all else, that’s what our goal is,” Thiersch said. “Rockford has been very receptive on the state level, thus far, and the local level. Nothing has been decided yet. We still have a long way to go.”

Dohm, who runs an importing and exporting business called Dohm Worldwide LLC, still has family in Rockford and said getting back to the area would be a “win.”

Exploring the opportunities

MedMen’s seminar this month drew about 30 people, several of whom weren’t scared away by the daunting nature of the presentation.

Joe Sameh of Wilmette came to the seminar well-prepared. Sameh has worked in the health care industry for more than 35 years, primarily in helping patients communicate with their providers. He used to own a medical answering service.

He’s interested in opening a dispensary but declined to say where. He has researched real estate and is working on business, security, financial and employment plans.

Sameh said at least two doctor friends had contacted him about getting into the business.

“There are some huge opportunities to explore the relationship between (medical marijuana and) quality of life,” Sameh said.

Tanisha Patterson and her mother, Glenda White, traveled to Chicago from St. Louis to learn more about the industry. Patterson works in real estate, and White is a registered nurse who specializes in hospice, palliative and therapeutic care.

They’re interested in breaking into the Illinois medical cannabis market to stay ahead of Missouri’s discussions about legalizing medical marijuana. Patterson said they have a team in place and the financial backing, and that they’re interested in both dispensaries and cultivation centers.

Patterson said the businesses would not be in Cook County, but the exact locations are still undecided.

She and her mother weren’t discouraged by the seminar’s honest look at the time, money and initiative needed to start and run these businesses.

“As an individual and an entrepreneur, and with investing the money that you are investing, you have to know the pros and cons of what’s ahead of you,” Patterson said. “We’re diving in. With life, you take the risk, and you don’t know the outcome. But you can’t look back at yesterday and say, ‘I shoulda, woulda, coulda.’ Whatever happens, happens.”